Progress of Regina
by swanqueen-fangirl
Summary: After her break-up with Robin, Regina begins to suffer from unusual blackouts. It's only after a particularly violent one that Regina admits she needs help. Emma is up to the task and has a few ideas of her own...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This was for the Summer Swan Queen Big Bang for art by Cbem. You can see it at /works/1871070.

***Mentions of OQ & CS*** but this is a swanqueen fic.

Shout out to my lovely beta: Onceuponagryffindor!

Lastly, in the amount of time I had, I got six chapters written. Since they are all already up on Ao3 where the bigbang was hosted, I'm just going to post them all at once here. Feedback is appreciated and thanks for reading!

Emma had left Killian's side and was searching the busy diner for a familiar petite brunette. It was Granny's birthday and most of Storybrooke was milling about the diner. _Where was she?_ Her blonde hair flicked off her shoulders as she turned her head towards the sounds of her parents calling her name. Emma waved off Mary Margaret and David as she headed towards the back patio, but before she could reach the door knob, she slammed straight into a solid wall of muscle backing out from the bathroom.

"Oof," the blonde let out. She started to lose her balance and stepped back; the heavy step of her favorite boots sounded on the floor with a dull thud.

"My apologies," a deep accented voice inclined.

"You're good," Emma automatically said and motioned to move past the archer.

Robin set a loose hand on her forearm. "Have you seen my Marian?" he asked. "I seem to have lost track of her," he said with a touch of humor lacing his words.

The possessive '_my' _did not escape Emma's ears. "No, I was just going to check the back for—" the jigsaw puzzle of Regina's missing whereabouts was starting to form into a recognizable blur. "I have to go!" Emma said suddenly without further explanation. She pushed past the slightly taken aback thief and hurried out the back door.

Her green eyes took a second to adjust to the evening light; the sun hinting at disappearing across the horizon at any second now. Emma quickly scanned the vicinity of the diner's patio, and her heart sped up when she saw it was empty.

Marian and Regina were both currently missing.

She could put two and two together easily enough and quickly jettisoned off the wooden steps. Her momentum came to a daring halt, practically skidding her heels into the pavement when she reached the street.

_Left or right? Left or right?_

She looked down the empty street both ways and like a cat hunting a mouse, she turned her ear to the sounds of faint but mounting protestations.

_Right._

She took off at a dead run. "REGINA!" She called out, searching down the narrow alleyways as she ran closer to the sounds of someone whimpering.

Emma ran past some shaded figures in one alley and immediately hightailed it back around to its opening. One might've easily mistaken the shadowed figures at the end for clandestine lovers by how close the two women were to each other. Regina's back was to her and she was towering over a frightened Marian. Mere inches were all that separated the two as Regina hissed at the younger girl. Emma could hear the low tones of the dominant brunette but couldn't make out what was being said.

"What are you doing?" Emma demanded with all the authority she could muster as she closed in on the pair. Marian's frightened eyes locked on Emma and she opened her mouth, but Regina's hand snaked out around her throat, cutting off her pathetic plea for help like a python.

"Regina, stop!" Emma said, just a few feet behind her, but it was as if she didn't hear her. "This isn't you!"

Emma saw the way Regina's right arm swung back and the blonde lunged forwards, knowing full well what the rage blinded brunette was about to do. "No!"

Emma's fingers barely brushed against Regina's shoulder, and as if noticing her for the first time, Regina viciously admonished her with a deep growl. "Stay. Out. Of. This." Her eyes were an eerie purple, a shade so dark, they were nearly black as they seemed to look straight through her. With the flick of her wrist, Emma was sent flying away from her. Her back crashed into the hard brick wall. Emma let out a loud cry and crumpled to the ground. She gritted her teeth and dug her fingers into the loose earth speckled with sparse gravel. Emma wearily stood up and shook herself out.

"HE-hhh!" With Regina's grip still around her throat, Marian's anguished cry was muffled, and her other hand sunk deep into Marian's chest. Tears made their way into Marian's eyes as Regina's grasp on her heart tightened. With a singularly rough yank, Regina released her hold on Marian, and she slumped down the wall to the dirty ground, silent.

Regina marveled at the girl's heart, pulsing and pumping a most violently bright red. A sneer ghosted across Regina's lips at her pureness. She tested her grip on the heart when she squeezed it once. Marian writhed from the floor, pawed at her chest where her heart would be, and screamed in agony.

"HEY!"

Regina whirled around having forgotten the blonde only to be overtaken by surprise as Emma launched her own hand into the brunette.

Emma felt her hand jam straight into the plump heart beneath Regina's skin; enough so that her hand bounced off of it and almost slipped out of her chest. Emma cursed as Regina faltered and the blonde had to steady her weight against her. She quickly opened her grip to fish her digits around Regina's heart. When she had it, Emma gracelessly yanked until it seemed to grudgingly release itself from the brunette's ribcage. As soon as her heart came free, Regina stilled.

Emma was breathing hard from the effort. She'd never taken anyone's heart before and she was terrified of doing it wrong, of hurting Regina. Her attempt was a travesty at best. Cora had tried to rip Emma's heart, but hadn't succeeded; her only guidance was having seen Regina perform the act on the Neverland boy. It was a lot harder than the queen made it look. _Maybe it gets easier over time,_ she thought.

Still huffing, Emma brought Regina's heart closer to her mouth. "Put—her—heart—back," she panted out. Regina stood stock still, her muscles moving in minuscule spasms as if she were trying to fight the hold Emma had over her. "_Now_," the blonde added.

The brunette rigidly obeyed, sinking to her knees to become level with Marian who was still sprawled on the floor and panicking with wide eyes. She let out a yip when Regina's hand sunk into her chest once again, this time to redeposit her heart back into its proper place. When she was done, Marian hauled herself upright.

"Get back to the diner," Emma commanded her. Marian nodded and scampered off back in the direction of Granny's. "Now what to do about you," Emma returned her attention back to the angry brunette. Her heart still held hostage, she took a step closer to Regina.

"Regina?"

She didn't answer but continued sneering at the blonde. Emma hardly recognized her, her face was so contorted with rage. It scared her. Emma's grip on the woman's heart tightened. Dull rose barely exhibited through an ugly, inky black that covered her heart like a checkerboard with half of the red squares missing. Emma brought it back up to meet her lips again, ready to give another command, when she pulled up short.

Emma took a minute to simply look at the brunette that used to be hers. At least before Mr. Fairy Dust came to town; fairy dust that turned out to be total bullshit. Regina had been so convinced and believed so fully that the fairy dust would lead her to her happy ending, a happy ending away from the blonde, Emma could do nothing but let her go. Now that all was said and done, Emma didn't take in any pleasure in Regina and Robin's failed relationship.

Having sought out the Blue fairy's opinion on the matter since Tinkerbell had made herself pretty damn scarce, it _was_ technically her fault for bringing Marian back and causing Regina and Robin's breakup. She never meant to hurt Regina like that. Never.

Upon further explanation, Blue had said that because Marian had been previously dead, Robin's new soul mate was Regina. Bringing Marian back, very much alive, reverted his soul mate back to Marian who must have been his stronger match.

"But what about Regina? That fairy dust said her first soul mate was Robin."

"I'm afraid magic favors the masculine in these matters." Blue had wrinkled her nose as she eyed Emma's flannel button up, mud crusted boots, and tangled hair.

Emma stared at the heart in her hand. How she wished the literal was figurative. Regina had been giving her the cold shoulder ever since she appeared in the diner with Marian. Even after she broke up with Robin she still didn't want Emma, furious she had ruined their relationship, and because of that, Emma saw no reason to end things with Killian. He was someone to ease the ache when Regina left her for Robin. And what could she say, he was a decent fuck.

Emma shook the thoughts off her coat like a wolf in the rain. She had a heart in her hand and the immediate danger of someone getting killed had passed. She had to return what didn't belong to her. The blonde hesitated and readied herself.

Emma thrust her arm forwards and roughly into the brunette. Regina lurched into her as she struggled to put the heart back perfectly from where she had thieved it from, an even harder feat than removing it. Emma bumbled and blindly tried to place Regina's missing piece back. She was reminded of the children's game Operation when she knocked into the edges inside of the brunette before finding her heart's home. Emma's fingers danced over the curves of Regina's heart, a single stroke of her index over its beating surface before she ripped her hand from the brunette's chest. Sans heart.

Regina staggered with the removal; a jolt as everything inside her reconnected. She let out a grunt of pain and grimaced as her hand shot to where Emma's digits had previously been inside her chest.

"Oh shit," Emma said. Regina's breathing became labored and she doubled over, still clutching at her bust. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Emma repeated. She fumbled for her cell in her back pocket and hastily dialed a number, holding it up with her shoulder to her ear and scrambled to help a writhing Regina.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina groggily opened her eyes to find the room a bleary smear as she came to. She blinked once. Twice and the fuzzy image became more recognizable. Her arm got tangled up in a thin sheet when she tried to alter her position. She was on a couch. The couch in the study room that was adjacent to the entryway of her home to be precise. _Why was she here? _Regina struggled to remember the previous night. It was all odd bits and pieces she couldn't fathom into a narrative. She stilled when she heard voices coming from another part of her home.

"Will she be alright?" Henry asked from the next room.

"Yeah kid, don't worry," she heard a female voice answer. _Emma?_ Regina strained to hear the rest of the conversation, but her attention wavered when her chest seemed to pulse of its own accord. Her eyebrows knit together and she gritted her teeth.

Footsteps.

"Have a great day at school. Don't do drugs, make good choices, all that stuff." Regina could sense the grin in the blonde's voice and could practically hear the joking roll of Henry's eyes. Heavy footsteps made their way closer. "Oh you're up," Emma said, surprise lacing her words.

Seeing Emma jolted an onslaught of memories from last night as they slammed into the brunette like boulders. Regina was fuming. "HOW DARE YOU!" Regina's voice rose in such an explosive tone, it startled the younger woman.

She jerked up from the couch she'd been placed on, and the instant she stood up, Regina knew she shouldn't have. A thin darkness started to creep in from her peripherals, but she was determined to stand her ground as she charged forwards towards Emma. Her hand was up in front of her, the back showing and ready to spring out when the darkness seemed to reach her full on. Emma saw the focused determination evaporate from the brunette's eyes when her eyelids began to flutter.

Emma caught the hand that was attempting to lash out and slap her as she closed her fingers around Regina's tiny wrist. Emma stepped closer to pull Regina's waist into hers just as the brunette started to go limp. The sudden dead weight bore down on her and Emma stumbled, trying to hold her up. Clumsily, she struggled to bring Regina to the couch but couldn't make it. Emma staggered to her knees. Selfishly, the blonde thought about how good it was to finally hold her again. The immediate situation of a passed out queen tore her attention back to the present, and she maneuvered her as best as she could to the floor, laying her out flat. Regina's free hand had fisted around a grip of Emma's clothing, and the blonde gently pried her fingers free of her tank.

As the blood rushed back to Regina's head, she let out a groggy groan. "Hey, don't freak out. You just passed out for a sec. I think you got up too fast," Emma said, still hovering over her.

"Get off of me," Regina bit as she shoved the Savior and tried to sit up.

"You need to lie down," Emma halted her with a hand to her shoulder.

"Don't tell me what to do," Regina hit her hand away.

"Regina, please," Emma sighed in mild annoyance.

Regina was pushing and clawing at the blonde that had straddled her and was fighting back. "No! You can't keep doing this! I don't belong to you anymore! I'm w-"

"I didn't say you did!" Emma caught her by the wrists. Olive green seeking deep brown. "I never said that. You wanted a 'break' and I let you go. Then you met…him."

"I love him!" she struggled.

"Well he doesn't love you," Emma said harshly and pinned her wrists to the floor.

Regina looked at her with pure venom dripping from her words. "Yes, he does."

"Then why did he leave you? Why is he trying to get so far away from you that he's willing to travel realms, huh?"

"What?" Regina stopped trying to throw the blonde from her perch atop her.

"Robin is leaving," Emma enunciated. "He and his family are going back to the Enchanted Forest."

"H-his family?"

"He doesn't want you to hurt Marian again and we all think it's for the best."

"_WE?_" Regina scoffed. "And who, pray tell, is _we_? When will you and your idiotic parents stop meddling where you're not wanted? At what point was it your position to decide things concerning my soul mate and me? All of this is _your fault_!" Regina spat with a snarl.

Emma's face had hardened with every syllable and she felt her own anger starting to rise. "It's my fault is it? It's my fault I just had to save Marian from you _again_? It's my fault I didn't let you kill her? This was all _you_! Maybe if you knew how to control yourself, your little boy toy wouldn't be trying to get as far away from you as fucking possible!"

Regina zeroed in on a single word with a crumpled brow, "Again? What are you talking about?"

"You hurt Marian."

"No, I didn't. Not here, not since she's come back. I haven't even seen her in two weeks."

Emma squinted at Regina and watched her eyes carefully to see if she was lying. In all honesty, she couldn't tell. Ever since she had become closer to the older woman in Neverland when they were camped out and snuggling into the same sleeping bag to search for their son, her ability to tell when Regina was lying had become completely unreliable. Emma pursed her lips. She was sensing that something was…off about her statement.

"Regina," Emma's tone was significantly softer. "Do you even remember last night?"

The brunette hesitated before answering. "There's a portion that's just blank. After I went out to clear my head from all the noise in the diner…I woke up here. I remember everything before that well enough." There was silence from the other woman and almost a pitying look. "What."

"You seriously don't remember?" Emma let go of Regina's wrists finally. Old habits dying hard, her wandering eyes raked down the brunette's body beneath her. In the earlier struggle, the top button of her shirt had come undone. It laid open revealing the top of her black bra on the right side. Emma cleared her throat. "Regina, you ripped Marian's heart out. You were about to kill her when I found you two."

Confusion mixed with horror as Regina shook her head. "No, that's impossible."

"You threw me against the wall."

"I did?" her voice barely above a whisper. Regina's eyes seemed to flash over the blonde as if to assess any damage. "And Marian, is she…"

"She's alive. Terrified, but alive," Emma reassured her. Her green eyes lowered and she licked her lips lightly. "I had to…uh…stop you. You looked right through me the whole time. It was like I wasn't even there."

"Oh." Regina seemed to leave the room for a moment, deep in thought.

'_Oh?'_ Emma thought. _That's it? That's all she has to say on the matter?_ She didn't push her. Instead her finger hovered over where Regina's heart was. "Anyway, it was a lot harder than you make it look. I wasn't sure how—" She tapped down to poke at the brunette midway through her explanation, but she didn't get to finish. Regina had flinched hard when Emma touched her and bit back a painful cry.

"Oh shit, I didn't mean to— I wasn't trying to uh, try anything or—I just meant because your heart—" Emma babbled out incoherently. Regina ignored her and, glancing down at her shirt, she gingerly stretched the fabric to the side to reveal a dark mark near the top of her black bra.

"Holy shit," the sight stopped Emma cold as she stared. She paused after making a pained expression and her countenance altered to apprehension._What if she had caused some real damage?_ "Do you mind if I take a look at it?" Regina seemed self-conscious when Emma gestures to the rest of her buttons. She looked away but gave a minuscule nod for Emma to proceed.

Regina exuded a small gasp when Emma delicately unbuttoned the rest of her shirt and she saw what was underneath. Emma tried to hide her shaking hand when she fumbled with the last button. She moved the fabric so that it lay open, and there on Regina's chest, were three of the ugliest marks she'd ever seen. Two more were half hidden by her lacey bra.

Emma breathed out another curse. The small oval marks were black in the center and an ugly deep purple as they fanned out. They looked similar to that of cigarette burns, but as if a drunkard had tried to extinguish a cigarette in exactly same spot and had missed terribly, resulting in several small oval shapes clustered around each mark.

"Do they hurt?" Emma traced her finger from Regina's collar bone down to the unsightly marks ever so tentatively, gauging her reaction. Regina's chest rose with an intake of breath, expecting to feel pain, but she didn't. Emma lightly tapped the outer purple bruise-like rings, expecting the same. It wasn't until her fingers roamed the burnt black center that Regina jerked, and her body curled into a slight C from the floor.

"Sorry," Emma said, her shoulders coming up oops-like. "I must've got you dead center a minute ago."

"It's…unpleasant."

"Oh come off it, they must hurt like a bitch." Emma spread her fingers over the three visible ebony ovals, and she looked at Regina before using her pinky and ring finger to slide over the lace of her bra an inch to match the two other black spots. Emma's eyes widened, Regina's jaw tightened, and her eyes zeroed in on the blonde's guilty face. They matched up perfectly. Too perfectly.

"I ripped your heart out," Emma whispered out her confession. And apparently, her inadequate heart ripping skills had had a visible effect. Emma had blemished Regina's skin with these gruesome marks.

"_You _did this?" Regina's horror was quickly turning into outrage. "Why would you do that?! Look at me!" She was looking down at the marks.

Emma was quick to placate, "How else was I supposed to stop you? You weren't _there._" Regina was silent. "Is any of this ringing any bells?"

"No, and you obviously did a horrible job of it," she glared.

"I didn't know what to do. Thieving hearts is harder than you make it look."

"Practice, dear," her words belittled. "Let me guess: you pulled straight out." Emma's brow crinkled. Regina mocked in a stupid voice to imitate Emma's question clearly shown by her expression, "What other way do you pull a heart?" She spoke normally again to chastise the infant Savior, "If you knew anything, you would have slide _left_ before pulling _out_."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" the blonde refuted. "And let me say, it was even harder putting it back." They both glanced down at the ugly bruising over the right side of her chest. "I'm sorry."

Silence bloomed between them.

"What happened after you stopped me?"

Emma was beginning to feel awkward about being straddled over the half-dressed brunette and removed herself to sit next to her instead. She sprawled her legs out in front of her and rested her back against the couch. Regina did the same. She folded her shirt over, without buttoning it up again, and held it in place with crossed arms.

"Well…I'm not exactly sure. Marian ran back to the diner, god knows what she told everyone, and I stayed and tried to take care of you. When I put your heart back, you just…shut down. I thought I did it wrong. I thought I might've killed you for a second there." Emma blinked furiously away from her gaze. "I took you home—I mean back here and got the Blue fairy to take a look at you." Regina narrowed her eyes at the fairy's name. "Yeah, I know, but she said you might've suffered from a magical blackout or seizure or something. I forgot what exactly she called it, but she said I shouldn't let you get up and that you needed to just rest."

Regina just made a slight hum of acknowledgement. "Syncope spells. I used to get them a lot as a kid."

Perhaps that's what the 'oh' was that Regina had given her earlier; she already knew. Emma had needed the crash course the Blue fairy had given her of what they were. Diagnosing Regina's recovering body, Blue had heavily suggested that Regina had been suppressing too much darkness and violence within her and that it had needed to be released somehow.

"It must've been hard," Emma said, angling to face Regina's profile.

"I got used to them," she said nonchalantly when she turned to the blonde. A wisp of hair fell into her eye, and the younger woman automatically moved it, tucking it behind her ear. It was second nature, and she froze when she realized what she just did. She curled her fingers into a loose fist and brought her arm back to her, looking at it as if it had moved of its own accord.

"_Emma."_

"Right..." Emma spoke softly after a while, "I'm sorry about Robin. Really, I am."

"I can't believe he would do that. After everything he said, after I gave him _everything._" Emma tried to hide the jealousy that bloomed in her as her stomach sank. Regina's jaw hardened. "How could he do that to me!" Her building animosity was palpable, and the room became warmer and warmer.

Emma scanned the room for an explanation. "Regina—" She looked over, but the brunette wasn't looking at her anymore, she was staring off, eyes starting to become unfocused and darker by the second. "Hey!" Nothing, but the room had grown blistering hot. Sweat glistened on Emma's forehead. "REGINA!" Emma shook her shoulders and Regina slid sideways so she was leaning heavily against her. Emma lightly slapped at her cheek, the other arm around her, trying to jar her out of it. "Hey, hey, hey! Look at me! Regina!"

Regina's eyes were a spasm of blinks, and she slowly lifted her head from Emma's shoulder. She brought her hand up to press at her right temple and groaned. Just as soon as it had come on, the blazing temperature in the room vanished and had returned to normal. Emma pointedly looked at Regina's hands. They were balled into fists with the wrinkled fabric of Emma's tank. Regina released them sheepishly.

Emma sighed. "We _need _to find you an outlet."


	3. Chapter 3

Two days later, Regina opened the pounding of the front door to a smiling blonde who waltz right past her and into her home with a bag over her shoulder, talking a mile a minute. "So I was thinking about this whole thing last night, after I left here a few days ago, and I've come to the conclusion that you have some serious rage issues." She held out a hand to stop the brunette's protests, and continued, "No hear me out, the thing you need is like an outlet of some sort so you don't get those magical blackouts again, whatever they're called."

"Syncope spells."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Emma waved and set her bag down. "I mean you can't just go around killing people like that, you know? I was thinking 'hey, what is it that I do when I feel like lynching somebody?' and you know what I do?" She didn't wait for an answer but barreled on. "Well, actually I go to the shooting range and picture their face on the little person outline and boom, a couple of rounds later I feel good as new." She started unpacking her bag. "But see, I don't think teaching you how to kill somebody _faster_ than ripping hearts out—no offense," she said to Regina's rankled look, "is going to make anything better with your uncontrollable rage explosions. So I thought okay well what's the second best thing I do when—"

"Is there a point you would like to make _Ms. Swan_?" Regina had to raise her voice to be heard over Emma's unceasing rambling.

"The chase. Right. And how you cut to it, okay," Emma said, curtailing her sales pitch. She had unpacked the bag she'd brought with her and was holding up some large gloves. "So what do you say?"

"No," Regina said flatly.

"Oh come on, you didn't even try them on." Emma tossed the red boxing gloves to Regina who caught them in a fumble.

"And how is going about punching people supposed to relieve me of my rage explosions as you so eloquently put it?" she said dryly.

"Not people, punching bags. It'll be good for you," Emma grinned at her, "I promise."

Regina gave her a hard stare before relenting. "I suppose you _are_ right about needing an outlet of some sort. The bursts of excess magic significantly lessened when I regularly went horseback riding as a kid. Here in Storybrooke, we certainly lack equestrian activities. Something I deeply wish I had included in the original curse."

"So you'll try it?"

Regina shrugged a shoulder non-committedly. "Great! I'll show you how. Boxing the bag a bit always makes me feel better. Especially if you picture whoever's face on the bag. I'll meet you in the garage." Emma was already in some gym clothes consisting of a tank, sports bra, some shorts, and some tennis shoes.

A couple minutes later, Regina entered the sparse garage. Emma had to consciously close her mouth when she saw the brunette come in. Regina had changed into a maroon sports bra, leggings and some name brand tennis shoes.

"So when did you pick up boxing?" the brunette asked curiously, hefting a red glove in her hand. She struggled to slip it on.

Emma took it from her. "Well, when I first started learning to take care of myself on the streets, it was odd tips from people here and there. Later, it was incorporated into this self-defense class I ended up taking to get on the force. And actually, you need to wrap your hands before you put these gloves on." Emma sat down on the single step in front of the door to the house and Regina joined her.

"Wrap them?"

"Yep, it will help keep your bones aligned and not mess up your hands and stuff."

"Oh." Regina examined a roll, separating the Velcro fastens, and it tumbled down like ribbon. "I didn't realize they wore these under the gloves."

"Surprise," Emma joked. "Now here's what you have to do." She explained how to wrap a hand by demonstrating on her own, going under and over and around then back again then once more over then under again until the entire length of the wide wrap had disappeared around her hand, stuck in place by the little piece of Velcro around her wrist. "Ta-da!"

Regina stared.

"Here, I'll do yours for you," Emma chuckled. She took the unraveled white wrap and grabbed Regina's hand. "Relax, will you?" the blonde said when she felt Regina stiffen under her touch. They were both quiet, and Regina's gaze lingered as she watched Emma wrap her hands for her. First her left and then her right, until she was done, and it looked like Regina was wearing two fingerless makeshift gloves. "_Now_ we put the gloves on."

Regina saw the single red set. "Where are yours?"

"Well, I couldn't haul an actual punching bag over here, so I'll just catch your punches with the mitts." Emma held up some thick black gloves that were a wide expanse of material with a slight curve to the center. Emma tightened the straps once Regina had slipped the red gloves over her wraps. They both stood up from the single step.

"Now what?"

"Well, there's really not too much to it, but I guess I could show you a little bit about form," Emma shrugged.

"Is this the part where you wrap your arms around me from behind so you can teach me?"

"It might have been farther down on the agenda, but I can re-arrange my schedule," Emma grinned wolfishly. Emma turned the brunette in a small pirouette so that she was in front of her, facing away. What she didn't see was Regina's small smile when she felt Emma's toned body pressed against her.

"When you punch, don't stop as soon as you hit the mitts, punch like you're punching _through_ it. Follow through, twist on the balls of your feet, and most importantly-," Emma was surprised to find her hands were already on the brunette's hips, and more so, that they had been there for quite some time, "-move your hips." Regina tested out a small punch in the air, and Emma guided Regina's hips from behind.

Emma breathed in the familiar scene of Regina's shampoo. This was becoming too familiar. She was tempted to kiss at the brunette's neck and suck at the sensitive spot that made Regina's toes curl. She shouldn't know these things, but she does and it commandeers her mind. When she doesn't answer Regina, the brunette looks back at her.

"Uhh yeah, that's right," Emma nearly jumps away from Regina. "A jab is with your left and a cross is with your right. Are you ready?" Regina mimed some unsure punches in the air. Emma slipped on the two bulky mits and held them up. Regina tentatively threw her arm out to barely tap at the gear Emma was wearing. "Seriously?" Emma scoffed.

"Queens…do not punch."

"Bullshit," Emma said with vigor. "I know for a fact you punch-and _hard._ Don't think I've forgotten." She thought of when they barely knew each other and Regina, as the mayor of Storybrooke, had decked her one. Regina attempted another weak punch. "No, come on. Get mad. Think of something that pisses you off—"

"You."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Well ha-ha but I bet there's someone you hate more than me right now." Emma caught another punch in her mitts easily. "What was his name…" she cocked her head to the side and pretended to think. Musing aloud she continued, "It was something like hobbin...or goblin… maybe it was bobbin?" If she could have snapped her fingers through her mitts as she thought aloud, she would have.

"Shut up," Regina grit out. Her face had taken on a more determined look, and her cheeks were beginning to show a slight pink to them as her blood got circulating. Her hits were coming slightly harder than before.

"Oh, I know what it was!" Emma continued on, overly sarcastic. "Robin! That's the old boy's name! You know—the one that chose Marian over you? They're probably laughing at you as they ride away into the sunset with their little happy family that—"

"ENOUGH." Regina threw out a much more forceful punch this time.

Emma caught it expertly in the mitt with a nod. "There it is."

"That-_punch-_no good-_punch _- TINY," Emma raised a knowing eyebrow and could hide her smirk, "LYING—_punch—_BASTARD!"

"Alright. Good. Let it out," Emma encouraged low. Minutes went by with nothing but a few pointers from Emma as Regina punched her heart out. "Keep your left foot in front…there you go."

Regina was breathing hard, feeling the anger bubble up and out of her as she pictured Robin and Marian and Snow and Leopold and Cora and everyone and anyone who had ever royally pissed her off or made her feel inferior. Emma's light commentary had ceased as she kept up with her; Emma's own breathing matching up with Regina's as she moved with her.

"Whoa there," Emma said as a punch came a little too close for her liking when Regina lunged forward with her hit. She was stepping back with the force of Regina's blows. Each hit landed on the mitts with a loud smack.

When Emma's heel knocked into the single step they had sat down to wrap their hands on earlier, her stance fumbled and she lowered her hands to catch herself. Regina was midway through a punch she had given her all. She tried to pull back at the last second, but her momentum kept up, and her glove made contact with Emma's face.

"AH! FUCK!" the blonde yelled as she fell hard.

"Emma!" Regina gasped. She drew her gloved hands up to her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you okay?" The blonde wormed out of her mitts and tossed them aside. They hit the cement of the garage floor with a flop. Regina was in a losing battle against taking her gloves off. She couldn't undo the straps using either of her gloved paws. She resorted to pulling at the Velcro with her teeth to free her left hand so she could fling the right glove off easily.

Emma was looking down and had her hand over her right eye. Regina's fingers ghosted over her hand in an attempted to pull it away. "Let me see," Regina cooed softly. Emma let her move her hand to assess the damage.

"How bad is it?" she inquired with a cringe. Emma could already feel the area around her eye tendering up. Regina didn't answer but pursed her lips together. If she wasn't in so much pain, Emma might've noticed that those lips were mere inches from hers. "I'm gunna look like a raccoon tomorrow aren't I?" she said sadly.

"Let's get some ice on that," Regina sidestepped. The brunette helped Emma up and slid an arm around her waist. She threw Emma's arm over her shoulder so that she was leaning some of the blonde's weight on her. They went into the house and Regina steered her in the direction of the kitchen.

"You know I didn't break my leg, right? You punched me in the eye." Emma said, but didn't let go of her. She reveled in Regina's half embrace.

"I'm thinking more along the lines of a coma," Regina said.

"Oh." They reached the table and Emma sat down. "You didn't hit me _that_ hard."

Regina rummaged around in the freezer until she pulled something out. "Here, this is all I have at the moment." She held out the frozen package.

"Peas?" Emma said emphatically.

"They will help."

Emma took them grudgingly. "Peas," she narrated to herself in a mutter. "Think of what they'll say when I tell this story. _Peas! _Who even _needs_ this many peas?" She pulled back the frozen veggie pack to look at its size distastefully before putting it back to her eye.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," Regina repeated. Both of them still had their wraps on and Regina began to undo hers across the table.

"That really hurt," Emma mewled pathetically, completely milking the entire situation.

"Is the Savior hurt that easily?" Regina played.

"Only around you it seems." Emma's eyes flitted to the brunette at the double edged jab.

Regina stretched the top of her sports bra down to show Emma's messy fingerprints burned into her chest. "Likewise."


	4. Chapter 4

Emma tried to go about her week as normally as possible, but it proved difficult with her stunning shiner. Being marked with violence had its way of eliciting a curious array of reactions. She had gotten everything from a dramatic 'OH MY GOD' (her mother), to being completely avoided (Ariel), to a 'Mixing it up in the bedroom, I see' (Ruby). It had nearly been a week since the incident and the swelling and bruising had gone down to just a faint hint of a yellow hue. If you didn't know what to look for, Emma could pass for being unmarred.

"Ma!" Henry called and waved her over. Emma approached their booth by the window.

"Hey guys," Emma slid in when Henry scooted over and gave him a hello hug.

"My, you're looking better than the last time I saw you," Regina said with a hidden smile. Emma noticed she was wearing a _very_ low cut top, and she made a conscious effort not to blatantly ogle the brunette's assets.

"Hey Emma, I was just telling Mom that I had a dream I was a centaur!" He laughed easily.

"A centaur?" Emma tried to picture a little half Henry half centaur and grins at the silly image. "What color were you?"

"Purple!" he said, excited she'd asked.

"I had a dream I was patrolling the town. How lame is that?" Emma shared. She picked a fry off Henry's plate.

"Did you find anything cool at least?"

"A frisbee that didn't fly?" she shrugged.

"Yeah, that's really lame," Henry concurred with a wrinkled nose. "What about you?" he directed his question to Regina.

"Oh," she pinkened lightly at the spotlight. "No, it's really silly."

"So was mine," Henry said.

"Was I in it?" Emma cracked a saucy grin.

"I dreamt that I was riding a motorcycle," Regina confessed.

Henry and Emma both laughed. Emma tried to picture it in her head: Regina's hair flying in the wind, decked out in a bikers' gang leather jacket, speeding down the streets of Storybrooke. She chuckled again.

"That would be so cool. I want a motorcycle!" Henry said.

"No," his two mothers said simultaneously.

"You guys are no fun," he grouched.

Regina raised a curious eyebrow, surprised that Emma wasn't encouraging their son's reckless wish. "I used to have one back in the day," Emma revealed. "At least until I crashed it. Not that fun, but this weekend will be, right?" She changed the subject and nudged Henry.

"Video games and Cheetos all day!" he said excitedly.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Regina said with a frown.

"Can we spend a night on the ship again? That was so cool."

Regina minded her with a calculating look when Emma answered. "I don't think that's a great idea. Besides, you know Hook doesn't have a TV."

"Oh yeah…" Henry finished off his last fry in a large swallow. "Can I get dessert?" Both he and Emma looked to his other mother. Regina nodded. Henry leaned impatiently against Emma who was blocking his way. Emma sighed and slid out of the booth to let him by.

When Emma slid back in, it was just her and Regina. They watched him lean over the counter as he spoke to Ruby. No doubt he was ordering his favorite sundae.

"He looks forward to staying with you all week," Regina said.

Emma smiled at that. She missed not having to agree on a schedule for when she could spend time with Henry. For a while there, she came and went as she pleased from the Mill's home. That changed back to their earlier agreements of Regina getting school days, and Emma getting the weekend when they separated. Henry had initially protested but had eventually come to accept it.

Emma noticed that Regina's fingers were fidgeting with her bag. Without Henry, there was a noticeably heavy layer of tension between the two women. Emma cleared her throat. "I'll drop him off at school on Monday. I got it from here."

"Thanks," Regina said, choosing to take the dismissal. She started to gather her things.

"I'll walk you out."

They both slide out from the booth, and after Regina said good-bye to Henry, the diner door dinged with their exit. The two women had made it just a few steps out when they heard a shout down the street.

"SWAN!" Emma grimaced and kept walking. Regina side eyed her. "Emma!" There was no way to pretend that she hadn't heard him that time and Emma sighed. "Give me a second," she said low to Regina, touching her arm before walking back a few feet to meet Hook.

"What," she said tersely.

"Emma, love, can we at least talk about this?" Killian said.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You just walk into me ship and say you're done with me? Throw me away like that? Come on, what's this really about?" He meant to touch her, but Emma moved out of his way.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. Can we do this later?" She paused, wearily, "Actually, can we not do this at all?" Emma took a step back.

Hook glanced behind her to see Regina fishing her keys out of her purse to open her car door. She was keeping a light surveillance of them. When Regina's eyes met his in a thinly veiled challenge, Hook tore his back to Emma. "Her?" he spat. When Emma didn't respond, Hook grabbed the top of her arm. Emma winced at his clasp but he ignored her discomfort. His gruff voice was rising "Are you telling me you left me for that bi—"

"I didn't say that!" Emma yelled at him. She struggled against his hand but he tightened his grip.

"Tell me then!" Hook shook her arm as if to shake free her response. He brought his contorted countenance inches from hers in a sneer. "Say it isn't true," his hot breath hit her cheek.

"We're not together!" Emma spat angrily. Their arguing had gotten louder and from the corner of her eye, she could see Regina coming closer. "Now. Let. Me. go." Emma growled.

Hook had malice in his eyes as he stared her down. "For someone who's so adept at spotting lies, you can't tell one to save your life. I see the way you look at her, and I can't believe you would—"

Emma let her fist fly. She wouldn't put up with him manhandling her. Killian dodged out of the way and automatically brought his hooked hand up to block her attack. Emma cried out when the silver curve caught her arm. Hook's eyes widened at the crimson blood rolling down her arm from a small slash.

"Emma, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Stay away from me!" Emma shoved him back roughly. Hook's brow cinched together and his lips parted slightly, but he wasn't looking at the blonde. Emma whipped her head around. Regina was marching straight at them. "Oh shit," Emma swore when she saw Regina's eyes had an eerie purple glow to them. "Regina! Stop, it's fine-don't!"

"What's wrong with her?" Hook asked, holding his ground and lifting his chin up. He didn't expect or realize what Regina was doing, but Emma knew when she cocked her arm back.

"Move!" Emma dove in front of the pirate, shoving him out of the way just as Regina lashed out. Emma gasped as Regina's hand missed Hook and sunk deep into her chest. She felt the icy clamp of fingers around her heart. "Get out of here!" Emma shouted at Hook. He didn't need to be told twice. He stumbled back a few steps before meeting green eyes. He wavered briefly as if to say '_sorry, mate'_ before he took off, boots slapping against the concrete in his wake.

Emma's hands found Regina's forearm. "Regina." The Sheriff winced at the movement in her chest. Just because her heart couldn't be taken didn't mean it didn't hurt. She repeated the brunette's name a little softer, lightly caressing the arm that literally held her heart. "He's gone now. It's just you and me," she tried to soothe, "and I'd really love it if you let go of my insides."

Emma quickly thought back to the first time she'd found Regina like this and how she had left this state before. Commands or pleas, Regina hadn't seemed to respond to anything spoken. She _had _responded to being touched, albeit not favorably. Emma winced at the memory of being thrown into the wall when she first tried to apprehend the brunette. _Well, it's worth a shot._

Emma didn't know what to say—or even if Regina could hear her. She wasn't sure if it mattered but continued anyway. "You don't need to do this. Everything's okay now. He didn't really hurt me." Emma tested her luck by slowly coming forward. Regina stared right through her, but allowed the bend of her elbow. She was now directly in front of her, Regina's hand still in the blonde's chest. One hand found Regina's face, cradling it gently. With her other, Emma gently held Regina's wrist and started to slowly pull the brunette's hand out of her chest. Regina didn't react.

With a sick pop, she had pulled Regina's hand free. The sensational spike of pain, even sans heart, made Emma gasped, involuntarily curling into Regina who intersected her lurch forwards. Emma let herself be draped across the brunette until she found her breath. Attempted kidnapping of her heart, which had happened far more than she liked, was always unpleasant to put it mildly.

She wrapped her arms around Regina and rested her chin on her shoulder. "Please come back to me," she choked out. Emma met her eyes to see a slightly lighter shade of violet, almost lavender grace her pupils. Emma fixed a stray strand of dark ebony hair behind her ear without hesitation this time. Flush against her, she buried her face in her neck and snaked her arms around Regina tightly. Emma didn't know if it was five minutes or five seconds later, but she felt arms gently slide around her waist in response. Again, it was timeless until Regina eventually cleared her throat and backed away.

"Emma?" she asked huskily, "what happened?"

"You…did that thing again."

"Is that why everyone is staring?"

"What?" Emma whorled around and sure enough everyone in the diner was pressed against the glass watching them. Ruby had an arm around Henry who was looking really worried.

"Oh god, not again," Regina murmured, clearly frustrated with herself.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't hurt anybody this time."

"You're bleeding."

"That wasn't you." Regina opened her mouth to respond but Emma cut her off. "I'll tell you about it later. Are you feeling okay?"

Regina was ready to press the matter but she let it go for the time being. "I feel…I feel fine," she admitted.

"That's good." Emma glanced back at the diner. There was a considerably less amount of people that were still watching them. "I think it's best if I'm the one to explain..." Regina followed her gaze and understood. She nodded. "You'll be okay?"

"I think so."

"Okay. Get some sleep," Emma said and then hesitated to add. "And sorry about your shirt."

"My shirt?" Regina asked confused and looked down. A quick analysis yielded a smudgy streak on her side where Emma's cut must've bled on her. "Oh."

"Drive safe," Emma said as she walked backwards from Regina back towards the diner's front door. "I'll be over on Monday."

"Okay."

A few moments later, Regina could hear the ding of the diner door open and close as Emma went inside. Regina suddenly found that she was alone. She hesitated to follow the blonde for more answers, but she had clearly been dismissed. One minute she was opening her car door and the next, she found herself snuggled into Emma's arms in the middle of the street. She tried to reconnect the missing wires for a light bulb to flicker to life, but she remained engulfed in the dark.

Regina got into her car and directed her route back to her mansion. It wasn't until she replayed the night over in her mind later that she wondered why Emma said she would see her on Monday if she was dropping Henry off at school. Regina didn't rejoice in having the entire weekend alone to mull it over, but she relented that she'd just have to wait and see.


	5. Chapter 5

It was midday and Emma was empty handed this time when Regina opened the front door of 108 Mifflin Street.

"Hi."

Regina opened the door wider. Emma languidly followed her in.

"How did it go?"

"Great as always," Emma said about her and Henry's weekend.

"Do I even want to know how much junk food and video games that involved?" Regina dared to voice.

"Probably not," Emma grinned in answer. They passed the small storage closet and Emma snapped her fingers. "Right." Emma stopped and opened the door.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked. She was more curious than upset over the blonde rummaging through her home.

"Remember when I was helping you and Henry swap the rooms around and stuff when we were still—er…" she amended, "I remember putting—aha—this box in here." Emma slid out a brown box labeled 'Art Supplies' with her foot. "What do you say?"

"To what?"

"To find you a different outlet. Obviously the boxing thing wasn't doing it." Emma went on when she was met with silence. "Aw, come on. You said the same thing about boxing and who knew you'd take to that. But actually, it dawned on me over the weekend when me and Henry were violently dismembering supernatural assassins playing Mortal Kombat 6. If we're trying to simmer down your whole rage thing, then we really shouldn't just be replacing violence with violence, you know?"

"A valid point, I'll give you that," Regina said, neither refuting nor encouraging the blonde. Relieving her anger by punching people wasn't that far from taking hearts.

Emma crouched down to lift up the box, and Regina followed her into the kitchen. The blonde began to rummage around through the cardboard box, handling some items and then putting them back.

"About the other day," Regina cleared her throat lightly, "a little more of that night came back to me over the weekend. You and Hook…"

"Oh boy, here it comes," Emma uttered low.

Regina gave her a cross look. "You shouldn't put up with that kind of…maltreatment, Emma." The blonde's eyebrows inched up slightly at the scolding. "Is that how he always is?"

Emma answered slowly, unsure of where Regina was going with her inquiry. "That's how he usually is, minus the occasional stab of his hook."

"Then why are you still with him?"

Emma eyed Regina skeptically and asked an inquiry of her own. "So tell me, do your symphony spells—"

"Syncope spells."

"—only happen when you're jealous?"

Regina nearly dropped the plate she was putting away. "Excuse me?" she derided. "That's impossible."

"Is it?" Emma mused humorlessly. She ticked off on her fingers, "Last week it was over Marian and her man, and this week-"

"I'm not pining over that disgusting pirate, if that's what you're thinking." She pretended to pick a piece of lint off her modest blue dress.

"I wasn't."

"I just don't think you should be with someone who treats you like that."

"Really," Emma said, hiding how much she was enjoying giving Regina the roundabout. She must be the only one in Storybrooke who didn't know that Emma and Hook had been splitsville for nearly a week already. "And who should I be with then?" Emma asked suggestively. She stopped her perusal of the box in front of her and faced the brunette.

Regina tightened her red lips together.

Emma hummed. "Also, I did hear that Ruby filled you in on what happened, or what she saw at least. What was that about?"

"What?"

"You going after Hook like that."

"He was threatening you."

"Well, I believe he was rather upset, all things considered."

"You don't need to make excuses for him."

"For the record," Emma said, trying not to smile at Regina's concern, "Killian thinks I dumped his ass because he thinks _we're_ back together again. Actually, he thinks that I was cheating on him with you." Emma waited for Regina to comment.

"That's…." _Ridiculous? Absurd? _Regina didn't finish, and the rest of the sentence hung the ugly truth between the two women. The silence grew to an uncomfortable uprising. Regina cleared her throat. "Is that was this is about?"

"Huh?"

"You helping me with these…outbursts?"

"No, of course not," Emma reassured the brunette. "I mean, I can't date you again if you happen to kill half the town in a fiery rage, flame balls flying everywhere and all. Do you know how bad that would make me look?" she was grinning even before she finished. Regina smirked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Regina asked cautiously.

"About Hook?" Emma shrugged and picked up a little blue container that was sealed by a small clasp. "I didn't know you had such a high interest in it."

"I don't."

"Why won't this open?" Emma fussed with the container. She had the clasp between her teeth as she pulled at it.

Regina set forth her hand as if to warn the blonde, "I wouldn't—"

It made a small click as it popped open, and Emma immediately started sputtering as she was assaulted by a barrage of shiny glitter from the small container.

"Gah! My mouth was open and everything," Emma spewed and swiped the back of her hand over her lips trying to clear the glitter that had spilt down her.

"Evolved creatures don't resort to tearing things open with their teeth," the jab hardly landed at all as Regina chuckled at the blonde.

"Think this is funny, do you? What if I'd swallowed all of that! I could have died!" Emma continued, reveling in the brunette's throaty laugh.

"It's your own fault."

"You could have warned me."

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"You knew!" Emma gasped theatrically. "You _knew _and you still let me open that container! It's all over me! It'll be a year from now before I get all of it out!" she made a show of opening her arms, showing the glitter in every crevice of her tank and pants, and pooled on the tops of her boots. She pinched a section of her shirt and shook it out.

"It's like the more I try to get rid of it, the more it spreads! It's like the herpes of arts and crafts!" Regina was openly laughing now while Emma patted herself down all over. "And you can stop laughing now." Emma took a step towards Regina who instinctively stepped back from the glittered blonde. Emma took another step and Regina suddenly became serious.

"Don't you dare," she warned, danger lacing every word. Brown eyes met green and Regina dashed hardly two steps before she let loose a high pitched, girlish squeal as Emma caught her. The blonde's arms engulfed Regina as she struggled to get away from the laughing blonde. Emma shimmied playfully over the length of Regina in an attempt to sway the glitter bits to find a new home. She laughed as Regina swatted at her.

In the commotion, Regina's backside bumped up against the kitchen counter. Emma let up her glitter assault and set her hands on either side of the brunette, hands gripping the counter. Regina gave her clothing a once over; she was completely covered in glitter and matched the blonde before her who was still chuckling.

"Neanderthal," Regina said, disgusted at her attire, but with a dark spark behind her eyes.

"Mm yeah, talk dirty to me," Emma leaned forward to dodge the insult as it rolled off her with a shit eating grin.

The air had suddenly shifted around the two women as the situation caught up to them. Both breathing harder than before their tussle, Emma had Regina loosely pressed up against the counter. The blonde was suddenly at a loss for words when she began to stutter out some sort of apology, but when she stepped back to put some distance between their bodies, Regina's hands found her hips. Emma's lowered eyes flashed up to meet hers. Without breaking their gaze Regina slowly brought Emma's hips back to hers. Emma inhaled sharply.

"Is this…okay?" Regina breathed softly.

Emma had to smother the part of her that wanted to scream '_GOD, YES!_' from the roof of the mansion. She didn't trust herself to speak. Emma swallowed thickly as her eyes glanced down to Regina's wine red lips. She looked back up and nodded, closing the space between them and parting Regina's thighs with her leg.

Regina easily allowed the intrusion and she tightened her hand at Emma's hip. Emma took it for encouragement and gradually began to rub her thigh between the brunette's parted legs. Regina buried her face in the blonde's neck and gave the slightest moan when the pressure lined up perfectly with her lower half. Emma didn't speed up or hurry as she continued. She savored being this close to Regina again, she missed her body. She missed the simplicity of familiarity. Her hands roamed.

Regina pulled back to search Emma with darkened eyes. Emma had the immersive sensation of falling when their lips connected. Although Regina was the one to close the distance, it was still tentative as if she were expecting Emma to pull away at any second. Emma heartened her by deepening their exchange. Regina's hands tangled in her sunny locks, and Emma couldn't keep the smile from her kiss.

Emma's heart was pounding. Everything she'd remembered about Regina was dull and faded compared to this moment. She'd kissed these lips a hundred times before, but this was different. Her memory never did her senses justice. Every motion was so…soft. Apologetic, almost. Regina's hot breath warmed her skin, and Emma was breathing considerably harder in return. The older woman's hands swiftly infiltrated her tank top to sensually glide over the expanse of skin that was hiding beneath.

A distant muffled sound begged them to return to reality, but they ignored it, too caught up in exploring one another again. The sound got louder. Regina broke their kiss when she pulled apart from the blonde's lips with a slightly wrinkled brow. It wasn't until they heard the scrape of a key in the lock of the front door that their disillusionment of privacy solidified.

The two women jumped apart when they heard the front door creak open, and Emma's body mourned the separation instantly. A loud slam and Henry came bounding into view with his backpack. His two mothers hastily tried to lessen their mussed appearances but to little effect.

"Mom?" Henry called. He stilled when he entered the kitchen to set his backpack on the table. "Ma?"

"Hey, kid," Emma cleared her throat and took a pace away from Regina.

He eyed them suspiciously, taking the scene in until he smirked. "You've got… uh…" Henry motioned to his own face to mirror Emma.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Emma waved him off. "It's _everywhere_." She brushed her shirt off with her hand and glitter sprinkled down to the kitchen floor. Regina was oddly quiet.

"I'll just…be at Grace's," Henry trailed off and pointed the way he had come in. He quickly made himself sparse, grabbed his bag, and the front door opened and shut again in his quick departure.

Emma turned to Regina with a quirk as she joked, "That was close." Regina wasn't laughing. She wore a decidedly pink flush across her cheeks that was starting to make its way down her neck. "Why are you—"

"Hold still." Regina found Emma's cheek and held it gently. With her other hand she lightly flicked out the tip of her tongue to moisten her thumb. Regina's eyes crinkled in amusement at Emma's childish expression when she wiped at the blonde's face near her lips. Before she could complain, Emma's eyes widened when Regina showed her thumb to her.

"Oh." Regina's thumb revealed a rose smear of Regina's lipstick that had made its home on Emma's mouth. "_OH," _she italicized when it hit her.

"Yes."

"He saw that? I thought he meant the glitter." She gave a goofy grin. "Cats out of the bag I guess." love that Henry saw the smudge :)

Regina bit her lip. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. It was impulsive of me."

"Don't apologize. If that's what happens when you're impulsive, maybe you should do it more often," Emma proposed with a glint to her green eyes.

"Perhaps," Regina hummed from the back of her throat. She walked closer to the refrigerator. "But do you know what I would really like?" she asked with a seductive undertone. Emma rose an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. Regina pulled out a broom from the small space between the fridge and the cabinets and shoved it into Emma's hands. "A clean floor."

Emma exhaled a single chuckle. "You almost had me going there," she said with a shake of her head. She took the broom.

"This is going to take ages to get out, so I think I'll start now," Regina said as she looked at her still glittered blue dress. She started to make her way out of the kitchen when she stopped. "Don't hesitate to use the front door when you're done," she simpered. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Let me know if you need any help," Emma tongued the side of her open mouth. Again, Regina smiled just as she turned the corner. "You really should take that dress off!" Emma yelled. "You'll track glitter all over the house!"

Emma's ears perked up when she heard Regina's momentum pause on the stairs. The paneled wood squeaked at her shifting weight and a soft sound of cloth. Next thing she knew, there was a collapsed pile of blue that had been flung from the stairs just outside the kitchen to land at Emma's feet. Regina's footfalls sounded up the stairs again, and Emma picked up the still warm blue dress from the floor.

"Unbelievable."

Emma shook it out as best she could and glitter cascaded off the royal blue fabric. She laid it over a chair and stared at the glorious glittery mess that covered the entire kitchen floor. She sighed and got to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma couldn't sleep. It had been days, and she hadn't heard a single word from Regina. She kept replaying that moment in the kitchen over and over like a re-run of her favorite show. Maybe she should take the hint. She sighed and turned over.

Emma squinted hard as a blinding light erupted from her phone like the messiah himself and made an awful sound as it vibrated against the wood of her nightstand. She let it ring a few times before slinging an arm out from her sheets to squint painfully at the glowing device. She fumbled with it as she brought it abruptly to her cheek.

"Henry?"

"EMMA!"

"Is everything okay?" she glanced at the phone's clock before bringing it back to her ear, "it's three am."

"Mom is…she's…I don't know what to do."

"What happened?" Emma jolted up and started groping her way through her little bedroom.

"She's having these really bad nightmares and—and I think she might use magic or do that thing again. I don't know what to do," he tripped over some of his words in his rush.

"I'll be right there!" Emma felt a panic bloom within her chest as if it had been amped with dynamite.

"Please hurry!"

"Henry, listen to me, I need you to stay away from her. She might not recognize you or really know what she's doing. Hide if you have to, just don't go near her. I'm on my way!" Emma ripped through her apartment in a half dressed frenzy, grabbing the tank from the floor and some loose jeans.

A yellow car door slam later and she punched it to the floor as she zoomed over to Mifflin Street. Six minutes. It took six minutes to speed through Storybrooke to reach the Mills mansion. Emma arrives at the door in a rush and Henry is already opening it as she reaches the porch.

"Are you okay?" is the first thing she asks and hold him at arm's length to give him the once over.

"Okaymaybeshesnothavinganightmarebutitsjustasbadidkwhattodo,"Henry said nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

"Wait, what? Slow down. What's happening?"

"Nothing?" he said with a lilt but continued on before Emma could interrupt. " Mom's fine. Well, she's not _fine_, but she's not having a nightmare or anything with the magic."

"Oh," Emma said, more relieved than anything. "Then why am I here at three in the morning?"

"I didn't know what to do," Henry confessed and stared at his feet. "She's been like this for the past few days. It just seems really bad tonight."

"Bad, how?"

"Crying. Off and on."

"_Oh."_

"I…I don't want her to be sad anymore."

Emma was suddenly unsure of how to proceed. She bent a little to be on his same level. "Oh Henry, I don't know if it's my place to—"she grasped for the right explanation. "I don't think I'm the one she would want to see right now," Emma managed to finish.

He looked up from wriggling his socked feet. "But you always make her better. We all saw you."

The blonde reared back her head. "Huh?"

"At the diner," Henry said. "We all saw you make her feel better. Granny was about to go out there with her bow but then we saw you hugging her. Marian said you stopped Mom the first time too, and she wouldn't stop humming when I came home from Grace's that day you were over either."

Emma took the surge of information in. The blonde might've been mistaken for a fish the way she gaped and tried to speak but words evaded her.

Just then both of their ears pricked up at the sound of a door opening. They listened briefly before it closed again. Henry quirked his mouth and looked at Emma. "She's looking for tissues. The extra box was in the closet in the hall. I was going to take them to her, but…" he looked at his hands and lifted one shoulder. "They're in my room," he said pointedly and looked up at his other mother. "Maybe you should take them to her?"

"You should try some subtlety, kid," Emma breathed out heavily. She eyed the darkened stairs and top floor from where she was. Henry inched over to the foot of the stairs and looked to see if she was going to follow him. Emma tailed her son up the steps, her boots making heavy impressions into the wood beneath.

"Here," Henry pushed out an unopened box of tissues almost shyly from the slit of his opened door. A muffled sniff was heard from where they were standing and Emma glanced over her shoulder towards the sound. When she took the square box from his hand, Henry met her green eyes briefly and then gently shut his door.

Emma made her way down the dark hallway two doors over. She bit her bottom lip and sucked in a sharp breath when she heard a slight whimper through the door. She hesitated outside of the closed door in front of her, her weight shifting from foot to foot before, wondering what to say. _It's not really my place_ _but here goes nothing,_ she thought as her hand graced the silver door handle and she opened it quietly.

At the sound of the door opening, Regina cut off her sniffling and tried to quietly compose herself. She was bundled under the sheets in her massive bed on the far side nearest the window. Emma cautiously approached the edge of the bed.

"Henry, this isn't a good time, honey," Regina managed to say without her voice hitching. Emma set the box of tissues on the nightstand and sat down on the side of the bed.

"Henry—"

"It's me," Emma softly interrupted her.

Regina stiffened, recognizing the blonde's voice instantly. "Leave," she murmured without affect.

"Henry called me. He was really worried about you." The glow of the lamp on the bedside table was casting shadows over what she could see of Regina's face. Emma paused before tendering the question of 'what's wrong'. She knew the brunette better than that.

When Emma tentatively moved from hanging off the edge of the bed to pulling her feet up to stretch out, the brunette allowed her company. When she cautiously scooted over to close the gap between them, Regina didn't protest it either. The brunette was lying on her side with her back to the blonde.

"Hey," Emma said quietly and set her hand on her side. Regina sniffed in reply. Emma didn't push, and let her get used to her presence.

"They left the other day," Regina said after a while of companionable silence.

"Who left where?" Emma furrowed her brow.

There was another bout of silence before Regina wiped at her eye with a bent finger and turned in her place to face the blonde. "Robin…with Roland and…"

"Oh." She'd heard from Ruby that the Hoods had struck up a deal with Mr. Gold to get back to the Enchanted Forest. Who knew what the deal was but they had left on Tuesday. Emma felt a stitch of guilt in her side when she realized she hadn't thought about how Regina would feel about the Hoods leaving. She had only thought, _good riddance,_ and had gone about her day.

"He didn't even say good-bye," Regina said sadly. "I think I'm more upset I'll never get to see little Roland again. He reminded me so much of Henry when he was that age."

Emma nodded her understanding, but she was trying not to become too distracted by the make-up free, and slightly mussed brunette glowing softly from the lamp light. "I never liked him, if it makes you feel any better—Robin," Emma clarified, a light grin pulled at a single side of her mouth.

"Yes, you made that clear when we…."

"Separated? Broke up? When you left me for him?" Emma supplied. "You can say it. It's not going to make me leave right now."

Regina sighed. "Why do you have to say it like that? That's not what happened and you know it. I just thought for once, maybe I could get my happy ending."

Emma lowered her eyes. "Were you not happy with me?"

Regina didn't answer right away. "No, it's not that I was _un_happy… I just never fully believed that—"

"It could be with me?" Emma said dejectedly.

Regina's dark eyes met the shadowed blonde's. "I didn't say that." Regina sniffed again.

"Here," Emma rolled over to fetch the box of tissues she had set on the nightstand. She quickly popped off the serrated top and pulled one out to hand to the brunette.

"Thank you." She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose. Regina gazed at Emma and hesitated to confess, "I got so caught up in thinking Robin and I were meant to be together, I couldn't bear not trying to make it work. Magic like that isn't supposed to fail." She shook her head, "I was furious at you for meddling when things were going so well, but I can't begin to explain how foolish I still feel, running off like that because some magical dust said it could guarantee my happiness. I lost track of what was right in front of me and everything I had with you. I was happy with you, I was, but never knowing what could have happened with Robin would have eaten me alive inside. I suppose I thought it likely you were merely a stepping stone to finding my happy ending."

"Maybe that's how you need to find your happiness?" Emma tried. "Step by step instead of all at once?"

Regina thoughtfully considered that suggestion. "Perhaps."

They fell into another easy silence. Emma opened up her arms a bit wider and raised her eyebrows at the brunette. Regina stared at Emma until the blonde grinned. "Fine, don't cuddle with me," she playfully took offense and lay back with her arms up clasped behind her head.

It wasn't long until somehow, by some sort of unexplainable force, Regina had inched closer and closer to Emma until she was pressed against the length of her body, fitting perfectly into her side. A smile threatened to tip the corners of Regina's lips when Emma's arm came down around her. Regina sniffled once more.

"Hey now, you're too beautiful to be this sad," Emma murmured. "There must be something that makes you feel better when you're down."

"I don't know, I've never been very good at being happy," Regina intoned. "What makes you feel better when you're upset?"

"You." The words were out before Emma could reel them back in in. "I mean—you. Talking to you. Seeing you. Being with you. Just…_you_." Emma bit her lip at her own honesty. She could feel her heart take a steep incline in pace at the impromptu confession.

Regina fingers traced Emma's collarbone. "Me too," she whispered. Emma couldn't stop her beaming expression. "Emma, I think it's been you all along. Every time I feel myself slipping, when I start feeling hopeless and destructive and hateful, you are the only one who can bring me back so easily. You make me feel so safe and cared for."

Emma cleared her throat. "Listen, I know it's never the right time to ask things like this..." she soldiered on, "but can we try this again? Us?" Emma's heart was thudding so hard against her chest she was surprised the brunette couldn't hear it. The silence was deafening.

"I'd like that," Regina finally said with a small smile, and Emma felt like she could fly. Regina reached up to poke the blonde's cheek and she chuckled lightly when she looked at her finger.

"Hm?" Emma hummed.

"You still have glitter on you."

"Figures," Emma groused. "You're welcome to try and wash it all off me, lord knows I tried."

"Maybe in the morning—I'm exhausted."

"I can wait."

Regina felt the blonde grin against the top of her head. She hummed with content and buried her face in Emma's neck as the hold around her tightened and they eventually gave in to sleep.

**THE END.**

**A/N: **So this is as much as i had written by the time the submit for the SQBB came around. I left a bit of an ambiguous ending thinking I would work on it more after the final reveal, but my muse pulls me in pursuit of other storylines. It was my first time writing for SQBB, and i definitely will think about signing up for the next one!

Thank you for reading!


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